--- title: Substance Designer Reviews meta\_title: 'Substance Designer Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 56 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Substance Designer works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.5 review\_count: 56 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: 3D Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/3d-design --- # Substance Designer Reviews & Product Details Claimed ###### Profile Status This profile is currently managed by Substance Designer but has limited features. Are you part of the Substance Designer team? [Upgrade your plan](https://sell.g2.com) to enhance your branding and engage with visitors to your profile! Substance Designer is a node-based non-destructive application for creating materials. Edit complete texture sets fast with the non-linear workflow and see your changes apply simultaneously to all your outputs. Unleash the power of Substance Designer and focus on what really matters: your art. * * * Seller [Adobe](https://www.g2.com/sellers/adobe) Discussions [Substance Designer Community](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/discuss) Languages Supported English, Chinese (Simplified) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Overview by Vincent GAULT (Tech Artist / Community Manager chez Allegorithmic) Show More ## Value at a Glance Averages based on real user reviews. ### Perceived Cost $$$$$ [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/pricing) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Blender](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Blender") Blender 4.6/5(319) ](https://www.g2.com/products/blender/reviews) [ ![3ds Max Design](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "3ds Max Design") 3ds Max Design 4.3/5(284) ](https://www.g2.com/products/3ds-max-design/reviews) [ ![Maya](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Maya") Maya 4.3/5(267) ](https://www.g2.com/products/maya/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/competitors/alternatives) ## User Insights Average based on 56 real user reviews. Perceived Cost $$$$$ [Log in to unlock pricing and user insights](/login) ![Verified User in Computer Games](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Games") UC Verified User in Computer Games Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/25/2021 "my 10cents" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? Quick fluent easy to use. great workflow over to substance painter. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? crashes sometimes but might be my pc related. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: Its a great tool, and i would gladly recommend it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? Crreating uniqe and fast materials for the game i am working on at the moment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Computer Games](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Games") UC Verified User in Computer Games Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/16/2021 "Substance designer review" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? that it makes crazy procedural textures which can be very helpful for vfx Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? node system breaks when im implementing heavy textures Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: use it if you want procedural texture making Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? visual effecs needs procedural textures and thats where i need this Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Animation](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Animation") UA Verified User in Animation Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/22/2021 "A Modern way to improve your Work Quality. Total complete package for all your Texturing needs." 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? The complete package for all your Texturing, and material needs. i love using it! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? The user interface can be improved more. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? Texturing was never so easy with any other available tool out there Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Motion Pictures and Film](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Motion Pictures and Film") UM Verified User in Motion Pictures and Film Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/18/2021 "Getting to know Substance Designer" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? I like best the way how the nodes can be procedurally used Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? I find that the interface of nodes is not very clear and organised Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? None Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Mateo V.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Mateo V.") MV Mateo V. 3d Generalist Animation Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 10/25/2019 "Powerful and Versatile Material Authoring Software" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? What I liked the most of substance designer, was the ease you have to create textures and patterns, and the possibility to easily edit what you have already created later down the process depending on the needs of the surface you are creating. The node based creation system makes it very intuitive and easy to make different versions or ramifications of any image, texture or pattern allowing you to experiment and be creative when designing any surface. Plus the best of it all is theat the PBR based preview allows you to see any tweaks you make in real time, letting you work seamlessly without loosing any time waiting for a render preview. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? What I liked the less was that the way to export the maps wasn't as intuitive as I thought it was going to be, it tooke me a while to understand the resolution options in the graph creation window and the resolution when you export, it is made adaptive so you dont have to work with very large images, nevertheless it has good documentation online, so I managed solve it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: I would say that Substance Designer if not the best, one of the best Material Authoring and Texture Creation software, that allows both Quality and ease of creation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? Substance Designer just made Material Authoring a painless and enjoyable process, It let's you unleash your creativity, and be very productive. Because once you get a grasp of the node system and acknowledge the tools and nodes the software has to offer, there is simply no limit to what you can create. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite LB Lazar B. Graphic Designer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 9/29/2019 "Versatile for Complete Texture and Material Creation" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? Possibilities are created by the quantity for an artist to make nearly anything within reach of the maps you're currently producing for. Displacement and standard Map nodes permit some mad depth in a feel, but it could only do this much, but it aids in creating some persuasive and realistic textures if you understand how to use them properly with the procedurally created routines that you get by default, although the capability to produce your structures and designs adds to everything you could do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? The process is intuitive using a learning curve in my case. I found myself at first a little lost as to exactly what each node the way to utilize it for effect and you'd at your disposal failed. However, there's a great deal of documentation and online help you could conquer this quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: It is a tool that is fantastic, and that I had decided to pick up this from word of mouth, hearing which it's being used more and more from the business and viewing presentations of what it might perform. I have noticed some work completed by other people, including some bits shared in an Artist in Ubisoft on LinkedIn. The nodes program is more complicated and persuasive though to achieve that degree of detail requires some work; trial and error and hence it takes some studying on to determine how to utilize it and what everything does. Though so you should not be stumped for long, You will find a wealth of Tutorials on the internet. An Indie license (less than $100k in yearly earnings ) can also be reasonably priced at $150 for one license so for amateurs, small studios and people searching for their permit you can not conquer that compared to prices of other specialist packages for substance authoring. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? I'm producing textures to get a 3D design which creates the maps that are appropriate to get a composition that is persuasive when applied to a model and are seamless. It may satisfy some requirements which could not. Coupled with Substance Painter, you get a fantastic set of resources for creating virtually anything at a fair period of time and that said it saves me a time once I want to make some quick and great looking base textures for baking on my 3D versions, then incorporating more unique detail and producing all of my significant foundation maps all at precisely the same moment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Isaac P.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Isaac P.") IP Isaac P. Creative dIrector Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 1/11/2019 "Versatility in depth " 4/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? The vast array of nodes and modifiers available in substance allows you to make anything. In our production pipeline, we have managed to massively reduce total scene polycounts using procedural architecture substances that spoof structural details to such an extent as to allow us to basically replace hero scale structures with flat surfaces. The amount of control is truly staggering and the support on offer from algorithmic is extensive, to say the least. There is a reason it has become the defacto standard for texture and material design. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? There isn't much to dislike about substance. The only critique I would give is the UI can be somewhat unintuitive at first but that's an issue that gets better over time. It is, after all, a ridiculously deep visual scripting system for shaders. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? As I stated earlier we have massively reduced our poly budgets for anything that can be procedurally built. The responsiveness in substance allows for rapid iteration and thus has caused a marked improvement in our final materials. Substance materials are also very memory efficient and can be modified in engine granting us greater flexibility in any given scene. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Matt A.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Matt A.") MA Matt A. Owner/Game Designer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/30/2018 "Powerful Design Tool for Procedural Material Authoring" 4/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? The vast amount of nodes you can use creates nearly limitless possibilities for an artist to create just about anything within the scope of the maps you are creating for. Displacement and Normal Map nodes allow for some crazy depth in a texture but it can only do so much but it helps in creating some convincing and realistic textures if you know how to use them correctly with the procedurally generated generated patterns you get by default, though the ability to create your own nodes and patterns further adds to what you can do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? Node system isn't as intuitive with a some what steep learning curve at least in my case. I found myself at first quite a bit lost as to what each and every node you had at your disposal did and how to use it for best effect. But there is a lot of documentation and online help that you can overcome this fairly easily with practice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: Its a great tool and I had decided to pick it up from word or mouth, seeing demonstrations of what it could do as well as hearing that it is being used more and more in the industry. I've seen some mind blowing work done by others including some pieces shared on LinkedIn from an Artist at Ubisoft showing just how much detail you can get using it. Though to get that level of detail takes some work, the nodes system is complex and powerful, thus it requires some reading up on and trial and error to figure out what everything does and how best to use it. There are a wealth of Tutorials online though so you shouldn't be stumped for long. An Indie license (less then $100k in annual revenue) is also reasonably priced at $150 for a single license so for hobbyists, small studios and those looking for their own personal license you can't really beat that compared to the prices of other professional packages for material authoring. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? Creating more realistic textures for 3D design that are seamless and generate all the proper maps for a more convincing texture when applied to a prepared 3D model. It can meet some demands that other software I have used couldn't. Coupled with Substance Painter, you have a great set of tools for creating just about anything in a reasonable amount of time and with that said it saves me some time when I need to create some fast and good looking base textures for baking onto my 3D models, then adding finer detail and generating all my important base maps all at the same time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite AM Anika M. Administrative Office Assistant Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 1/17/2018 "A wonderful tool to use!" 4/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? I love that you can take items and change the texture and image in one spot. You can make something look however you want with the ease of just your computer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? I wasn't someone who was hired on at my job to work with design elements, but every once and a while I was asked to help create graphics and videos. When that happened I loved using the Substance Designer. We also had the whole texturing suite with the designer, painter, b2m, and source. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: So there are a few options for purchasing Substance Designer. Always start by using the free trial to see if it truly is something you want to use. After that, you can purchase the designer by itself for a few different prices yearly. The first is an Indie License at $149, next is the Pro License at $990. You can also purchase the Texturing Suite like we did for a monthly and yearly option. For the Indie License suite package, it is $19.90 monthly or $239 a year, the package price for the Pro License is $99 a month or $990 a year. So they have a great deal for all levels you need! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? It helped us make even the smallest detail perfect in all of our marketing materials and videos. It was a great tool to make sure that our products stood out! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Entertainment](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Entertainment") UE Verified User in Entertainment Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/21/2018 "Substance designer has changed the game" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? What I like best about this program is how non destructive it's workflow can be. Using substance designer has changed the game for me. I can create endless materials and combinations for my 3D projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? If anything I dislike, is that it may crash every once in a while. The program is fairly stable now, but ir can sometimes crash when using heavy nodes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: This program is a game changer along with it's brother Substance Painter. The videos provided on youtube by them will help you get started on your journey. It will however take some practice to master it(just like any other program). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? With substance designer I don't have to go and download pictures from the web to create my own tileables. By using this software I have control of what I want to create including the size. Software designer saves you the pain of using images that may not work for your texture, it will save you the resolution headaches. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ## Questions about Substance Designer? Ask real users or explore answers from the community Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights. [ Ask about Substance Designer ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/discussions/new) GU Guest User What is Substance Designer used for? 0 Upvotes 0 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/substance-designer-what-is-substance-designer-used-for) [ View all Discussions ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/discuss) ##### Pricing Pricing details for this product isn’t currently available. Visit the vendor’s website to learn more. [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/pricing) Substance Designer Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_6112c138e20f80a02a073469ac6e865c/blender.gif "Product Avatar Image") Blender 4.6/5(319) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/blender-vs-substance-designer) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_a5f997e9293e492840a3e9596a8c566b/keyshot.png "Product Avatar Image") KeyShot 4.5/5(182) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/keyshot-vs-substance-designer) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_4c780658e809bc5049c36f652e511ea4/cinema-4d.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Cinema 4D 4.6/5(137) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/cinema-4d-vs-substance-designer) ##### ##### Substance Designer Features Design Brush Variety Effects Move Render Views Store & Manage Pipeline Controls Template library [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/features) ##### Categories on G2 [3D Modeling](https://www.g2.com/categories/3d-modeling)[3D Rendering](https://www.g2.com/categories/3d-rendering) ##### Explore More [What is the best encryption software for securing sensitive files without degrading user workflow speed?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-encryption-software-for-securing-sensitive-files-without-degrading-user-workflow-speed)[What's the best CPQ software with custom pricing features](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-s-the-best-cpq-software-with-custom-pricing-features)[Top tools for optimizing cloud spend](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-top-tools-for-optimizing-cloud-spend) [Best compensation planning software for growing companies](https://www.g2.com/discussions/best-compensation-planning-software-for-growing-companies)[Which aviation compliance monitoring platforms deliver user-friendly interfaces despite complex safety management features?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-aviation-compliance-monitoring-platforms-deliver-user-friendly-interfaces-despite-complex-safety-management-features)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)